PREGNANCY

Background: Respectful maternity care (RMC) is defined by the World Health Organization as care organized and provided to all women in a manner that maintains their dignity, privacy, and confidentiality, ensures freedom from harm and mistreatment, and enables informed choice and continuous support during labour and childbirth. Despite global recognition of its importance, violations of RMC remain widespread in low- and middle-income countries, including Nigeria, where disrespect and abuse during childbirth have been linked to reduced facility utilization, poor maternal satisfaction, and adverse psychological outcomes. Nigeria accounts for nearly 20% of global maternal deaths, with a maternal mortality ratio of 512 per 100,000 live births. In Benin City, Edo State, there is limited comprehensive data on postnatal mothers’ experiences, knowledge, and attitudes toward RMC, creating a significant gap in evidence needed to inform policy and clinical interventions. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the extent, determinants, and implications of respectful maternity care experiences among postnatal mothers in Benin City, Edo State. Specific objectives included assessing knowledge and attitudes toward RMC, documenting experiences of respectful and disrespectful maternity care during childbirth, identifying provider- and facility-level determinants of RMC violations, determining predictors of respectful care experiences, and advocating for institutional policy changes promoting RMC. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted between April 2025 and April 2026 among postnatal women in Ugbowo community, Egor Local Government Area, Benin City. A sample size of 418 respondents was determined using Cochran’s formula, with a 10% non-response adjustment. A multistage sampling technique was employed: Egor LGA and Ugbowo ward were selected by simple random sampling (balloting), and five communities within the ward served as clusters from which all eligible postnatal women were recruited. Inclusion criteria were women aged 18 years and above who had delivered a live birth within the preceding year and were resident in Edo State. Data were collected using a structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire comprising six sections covering sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge of RMC, attitudes toward RMC, childbirth experiences, facility- and provider-level factors, and overall satisfaction. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS; univariate analysis described sociodemographic characteristics, chi-square tests assessed bivariate associations, and binary logistic regression identified independent predictors of respectful care experience. Results: The majority of respondents were married women in their late twenties to midthirties with tertiary education, predominantly Christian, and most had attended antenatal care during their last pregnancy. Most delivered in public health facilities and settled bills out of pocket. Formal awareness of RMC as a concept was poor, with only 19.6% of respondents having heard of it; among these, fewer than four in ten demonstrated good overall knowledge, with particular weaknesses in domains relating to supportive care, informed consent, autonomy, and non-discriminatory treatment. Despite low conceptual awareness, the overwhelming majority of respondents held strongly positive attitudes toward the underlying principles of respectful care, with formal education being the only statistically significant predictor of positive attitude. Reported childbirth experiences were broadly positive for dignity, empathetic communication, and non-discriminatory treatment; however, serious violations persisted: more than one in five women reported being shouted at during labour, more than one in ten reported being physically struck, and the near-universal suppression of cultural practices during labour was documented. Perceived provider overwork, overcrowding, and intimidation by birth attendants were identified as facility- and provider level factors compromising care quality, with nurses and midwives disproportionately identified as responsible for mistreatment. In multivariate analysis, positive attitude toward RMC (adjusted OR approximately 3.0) and delivery in a private facility were the only statistically significant independent predictors of a respectful childbirth experience; women who delivered in public facilities had significantly lower odds of respectful care. Conclusion: Formal awareness and comprehensive knowledge of RMC remain critically low among postnatal mothers in Benin City, despite largely positive attitudes toward its principles. Serious violations, including verbal and physical abuse, financial gatekeeping, and suppression of cultural practices, persist alongside generally favourable overall experience ratings, pointing to a system-level underestimation of mistreatment. A significant public- private quality gap was confirmed, with public facility delivery associated with lower odds of respectful care. These findings underscore the urgent need for rights-based maternal health education integrated into routine antenatal care, mandatory RMC training for maternity staff, improved accountability mechanisms within public health facilities, and the development of a national RMC standard with enforceable facility-level indicators. Keywords: Respectful maternity care, postnatal mothers, disrespect and abuse, childbirth experience, Benin City, Nigeria, maternal health.

his study was carried out to examine teenage pregnancy and youth development in Oredo local government area, Edo State, Nigeria. It drew sample from the 533,300 population of Oredo local government area.. It made use of four objectives. A 100% response rate was obtained from the questionnaires that was administered. The survey method of data collection was applied in the study because it is only the method best suited for the collection of data from a sample of a chosen population of any study, which was applicable in the study. The findings from this study shows most of the respondents know what teenage pregnancy is, this is because they are victims of teenage pregnancy or know someone who is. The main cause of teenage pregnancy is lack of proper sex education to teenagers. This study shows that family background has a role to play in teenagers falling victims of teenage pregnancy however, it does not relegate the fact that victims of teenage pregnancy live unfulfilled lives. The study recommends that the government should encourage NGOs that advocate for women and children so that they will constantly sensitize the public on the right sex education. It also recommends that counselling centers and rehabilitation facilities should be made available for victims of teenage pregnancy.